Dennis Kennedy
practices law in the Intellectual Property and Information Technology Group at
Thompson Coburn LLP in St. Louis, Missouri. Dennis was named the 2001
“TechnoLawyer of the Year” by the TechnoLawyer Community for his role in
promoting the use of technology in the practice of law. He speaks and writes
frequently on the use of legal technology and Internet topics. Many of his
articles on legal technology are collected in the form of an “online book”
at www.denniskennedy.com/ltprimer.htm.

The 2001 AmLawTech survey of the one hundred largest U.S. law
firms found that 88% of the responding firms support the use of handheld PCs.
Lawyers were early users of Palm computing devices and it is common to see
lawyers using these devices in a number of settings.

While Palm computing devices give you an excellent “out of
the box” experience, both their utility and your enjoyment can be greatly
increased by taking advantage of a few simple tricks and techniques and
learning about some valuable practical resources.It’s what you can do after you move past the “out of the
box” functionality that gives these devices their greatest value, especially
for those in the legal profession.

I have used a Palm device for several years now and have
collected the following ten favorite tips that I routinely share with other
Palm computing users.

1.Visit
PDAJD.com Regularly.PDAJD.com
(http://www.pdajd.com) is a type of web
site known as a vertical portal, or vortal.That simply means that it is an excellent collection of resources on a
specific topic for a specific audience. In the case of PDAJD.com, the topic is
personal digital assistants and the audience is the legal profession.It is a one stop shop for lawyers and others to find information,
articles, resources and links to other helpful web sites, all in one
convenient place.New articles
and content are added on a regular basis. The focus is on the practicing
lawyer and this makes www.pdajd.com far
more useful to legal professionals than the standard Palm computing or PDA
resource sites.

2.Get
an Outliner.Palm
computing devices can be extremely useful for putting together ideas and
planning projects, especially in the early “brainstorming” stages of a
project.A highly useful category
of software products for lawyers includes outliner and other organizational
programs.There are several
excellent outliners for Palm devices.My
personal favorite is called BrainForest (http://www.aportis.com).
BrainForest has a lot of useful features and a helpful “leaf and branch”
metaphor for organizing information and outlines.These outliner programs can help you plan articles and presentations,
prepare arguments and closings, manage projects and build sophisticated to-do
lists, as well as store useful information on a topic in an outline format.If you use them to capture ideas, you’ll find that you won’t forget
your best ideas and that you can build on those initial ideas over time in a
structured manner. BrainForest, in fact, is the one program on my Palm device
that I use most often.

3.The
Scotch Tape Trick.Palm
computing device users often worry about scratches and other wear and tear on
the screen, especially in the area of the screen where Graffiti characters are
entered by writing directly on the screen with a stylus.A very inexpensive and useful trick is to place a piece of Scotch magic
tape (the kind commonly used to wrap presents) over the portion of the screen
where Graffiti characters are entered.This
simple technique has two excellent benefits.First, it protects that portion of the screen from scratches by adding
an inexpensive transparent layer of protection.Second, the texture of the tape provides a better tactile experience
(it simply gives a better writing “feel”) and makes it a bit easier to
write Graffiti characters.

4. Replace Standard Programs
Aggressively.Whether it is the calendar, to-do list, notes, address book, calculator
or even the initial launch screen, third-party software providers have
provided better versions of each of the standard programs found on Palm
computing devices.These standard
program replacements are inexpensive (usually in the $15 to $20 range) and add
the features that you may think are “missing” from the standard programs
supplied with your unit.These
programs often provide enhanced functionality and improve usability.For example, an enhanced calendar program (such as DateBk4 (www.pimlicosoftware.com))
may provide a variety of useful views, such as weekly calendar views, that are
not available in the standard calendar program. Iambic Software’s Action
Names (www.iambic.com) is a good example
of an address book replacement. For others, take a look at the enhancements
category at www.palmgear.com/software/.

5. Look for Software Answers to
All Your Wishes.There are now more than 10,000
programs that have been written for Palm devices.These programs have an amazing scope and variety, and run the
range from the general to the highly specific.A trip to a web site like Palmgear.com (www.palmgear.com)
will often reveal a variety of useful, often free, programs that will
accomplish specific tasks or provide a specific functionality that you might
be looking for.These days, in
nearly every case, if you wish there were a certain type of Palm program,
someone has already written it.

6.Buy
David Pogue’s Book.While
the operation of Palm computing devices is often intuitive and
straightforward, every Palm user should think about spending $30.00 for David
Pogue’s book called “Palm Pilot: The Ultimate Guide” (Second Edition).This book explains all the Palm basics and provides hundreds of tips,
software recommendations, and other useful help.The book comes with a CD that contains a large number of trial
programs, free programs and shareware to help you get started using your Palm
computing device.Keep an eye out for the upcoming Third Edition, since the
Second Edition has become just a bit dated and does not cover the newest
models.

7.Subscribe
to Handheld Computing Magazine’s E-mail Newsletter.To keep up with current developments in Palm computing, Handheld
Computing Magazine’s e-mail newsletter is an excellent resource.This free one-page e-mail newsletter comes to you on a weekly basis in
a PDF format, with a short feature article and short reviews, news and links
to useful sites and new software.This
newsletter is a great way to keep up to date with current developments, learn
about new product announcements and to find new and useful software.
Information about subscribing to the weekly newsletter and the print version
of the magazine can be found at http://www.hhcmag.com.

8.Sync
Addresses to Palm Device Only.One
of the most highly downloaded Palm programs is a program called Undupe, which
allows you to eliminate duplicated entries.The reason this program is so popular is that it is very easy to
accidentally duplicate all the entries in your address book when synchronizing
data between your Palm device and your desktop.In the case of an accidental duplication, you have the choice
of either spending a significant amount of time deleting the duplicate entries
or using a program like Undupe.I
avoid the issue by treating my Outlook address book on my office computer as
the gold standard, permanent address book, and then take no risks with it.When synchronizing a Palm device with your desktop computer, you can
either sync down to your device, sync up to your desktop or sync in a way that
tries to reconcile the information on both. It is this reconciliation
procedure that can lead you into trouble.I recommend that you only sync down to your Palm computing device.The only disadvantage of this approach is that it means that if you
collect an address from somebody while you are out of the office, you have to
enter that address by hand when you get back to your desktop computer rather
than syncing up from your Palm device.I
think that is a small price to pay to eliminate the danger of overwriting your
desktop address book or duplicating all of its entries.

9.Match
Your Style.The
people who have the best results with Palm computing devices have spent some
time thinking about how they will use it, how they will carry it and the
situations in which it will help them.I
suggest that you go through the exercise of visualizing how you will be using
the device, especially if you are considering whether to use a wireless
device. Any Palm computing device’s greatest utility will be realized when
it is used and carried by you on a regular basis.As a result, the device should be thought of as a kind of accessory to
your clothing and other items that you carry.Although people sometimes chuckle about this, it can be a very
difficult decision what case to use for your Palm computing device.A friend of mine once spent a large amount of time and a lot of effort
trying to find a brown carrying case for a Palm device to wear with his brown
suit (see www.steinberglaw.com/palmpilot1.htm).Your choice of your Palm computing device should be in no small part
based on how it fits in to your professional image.

10.Give Up the Paper.If you try to hang on
to your DayTimer, notebook, or other ways of keeping information, your
transition to and use of a Palm computing device will be a little shaky and
will proceed in a bumpy manner.In
fact, you take a substantial risk that you won’t ever adapt to the device
and that it will become an expensive paperweight. The better approach is to
commit to using the Palm and make an effort to use it for everything from the
beginning. Throw away or hide your existing calendars and other paper.By firmly committing to the Palm device, you greatly increase your
likelihood of a successful experience.

Conclusion

Palm computing devices offer a lot of potential benefits for
legal professionals to assist in the management of information, especially
when you are outside of the office.In
order for them to be most useful to you, you need to increase the likelihood
for success and to increase their usability for you.A key to that process is to find resources that offer
practical advice from the point of view of a lawyer or legal professional. By
taking advantage of these ten tips and techniques, you can improve your Palm
computing experience, organize yourself and make yourself more productive,
while getting full value out of your Palm computing device.